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ISLAMABAD: Speakers of Afghanistan, China, Iran, Pakistan, Russian Federation and Turkey will hold a joint meeting from December 24 to 25 here to discuss and address the challenges of terrorism and inter-regional connectivity.

Speaker of the National Assembly of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Sardar Ayaz Sadiq shared the vision about the joint meeting with his counterparts from the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Peoples Republic of China, Islamic Republic of Iran, Russian Federation and Republic of Turkey at the 2nd meeting of the Eurasian Parliaments’ Speakers held in Seoul from June 26-28, 2017.

Minister of State for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Marriyum Aurangzeb, Secretary National Assembly, heads of official media organizations, Lok Virsa and Pakistan National Council of Arts (PNCA) held a meeting here on Friday to review arrangements for the Speakers’ joint meeting.

The Speaker had proposed that the National Assembly of Pakistan will host a Joint Meeting of Speakers from the six countries, says a press release. Peace, dialogue and interdependence are key precursors of a prosperous society upon which rests the whole paradigm of sustainable development of our coming generations.

The vibrant nations of Afghanistan, China, Iran, Pakistan, Russian Federation and Turkey are not only tied by geographical proximity but due to a perpetual interdependence based on age old civilizational heritage as well as geo-economic links of trade, tourism and culture spread over centuries.

Presently these countries face similar challenges of extremism by non-state actors, which pose existential threats to security and stability of respective countries and the whole region.

Accordingly, the elected Parliamentary leaderships of the six nations are coming together along with experts to delve and ponder the common key challenges as well as to explore new avenues for increased dialogue and connectivity for development.

It will certainly prove to be a watershed to explore parliamentary cooperation for optimization and consolidation of no less than 20% of world’s resources in the region.

The joint meeting aims to explore all avenues of securing peace within all six countries as well as among them through creation of a framework of dialogue and enhanced connectivity to consolidate people to people as well as state to state relations and expand same to a day to day interdependence viz a viz banking, energy generation, trade, tourism and commerce.

It emphasizes need to develop not only road connectivity but setting up banks, gas and oil pipelines and promoting economic and trade ties.The idea is based on the realization of the importance of international linkages as the key starting point for the furtherance of the strategic and economic interests of all countries concerned through joint research, sharing ideas and creating multilateral platforms of businessmen, academia and traders led by the representative parliamentary leadership that guides the golden ring in accordance with the aspired peace, dialogue and sustainable development by the people of the six nations.

History testifies that for the most part, that there has been no incidence of any territorial dispute within this region. Often termed as the “Golden Ring” this geographical region comprising six countries, exceeds any region of the world with regards to human and natural resource, technological and skilled competence, and geo-political strategic importance. However, the persistent nuisance of global terrorism has been impeding the collective progress of this region.

Hence, the theme of this Speakers’ joint meeting titled – “Exploring Parliamentary Cooperation for Peace, Connectivity and Prosperity,” aims at addressing these challenges through an exchange of knowledge, experiences and possible solutions in the form of dialogue.

The three core ideas of the theme form a perpetual cycle, which will lead to generate a paradigm of sustainable development through enhanced trade, commerce and tourism within the region not just consolidating the countries in terms of economy but also the overall state of well-being of the people.

In today’s day and age, no country is an island. Whether it is economic development, building resilience or combating terrorism, the six countries must engage in research, multilateral discussions and inter-regional interactions. Keeping the spirit of regional oneness for the collective prosperity in mind, this Joint Meeting of the Speakers will enable the participant countries to engage in meaningful discussions to explore common means of combating terrorism, maintaining peace and enhance connectivity of people and states.

The meeting will also involve interaction among peace activists, representatives of business and trade community, professionals, academia and experts from the six countries. The notion to organize this imperative parliamentary meeting is to identify, promote and develop common socio-economic interests of these countries.